Client review exerpts: "A Jedi master in the legal justice system"; "took the time and effort to treat me like a human being"; "a great attorney who is passionate about what he does"; "caring and still a bulldog in court"; "a lawyer that never quits".

Jon defends in the state and federal courts in Fairfax, Northern Virginia, and beyond, including courts in Fairfax City, Arlington, Falls Church, Alexandria, Prince William and Loudoun County. Criminal defense is about defending people and upholding civil liberties. Se habla español. On parle français.

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CASE RESULTS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE, AND DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE UNDERTAKEN BY OUR LAW FIRM.Va. R. Prof. Cond. 7.1(b).Nothing on this blog and elsewhere in the katzjustice.com website is legal advice. Jon Katz is admitted to practice before the state and federal courts in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. A competent lawyer should be consulted privately for any legal advice. Here is further disclaimer information and the terms of use for this website.

NOTE: CASE RESULTS DISCUSSED IN THIS BLOG DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE, AND DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE UNDERTAKEN BY OUR LAW FIRM.Va. R. Prof. Cond. 7.1(b).

Suffering is ubiquitous in the criminal defense work I do. My clients suffer with the burden of being prosecuted and with the consequences of any convictions and sentences. Crime victims suffer. Judges and jurors suffer when seeing violent and other disturbing images and when inescapably facing droning lawyers and witnesses.

In early 1991, I felt suffering when I learned the Senate was debating whether to authorize George Bush I to go to war in Iraq, on the cusp of converting the Madison Avenue propaganda slogan from Desert Shield to Desert Storm. When my Saturday clock radio alarm alerted me to the debate, my visiting out-of-town friend and I hurriedly went across the street to the art store to get supplies to make antiwar posters, as we delved into being not-ready-for-prime-time demonstrators, when I was still at a corporate law firm with insufficient knowledge about the law applying to demonstrators' rights.

My law firm at the time was only two blocks from the White House. The otherwise likeable lawyer in the office adjacent to mine had a yellow ribbon prominently displayed on his desk. I did not feel comfortable talking with anyone at the firm about my views on the war, and had no idea who might have been for peace in the Gulf. Fortunately, at lunchtime, I could just go to the nearby LafayettePark, across from the White House, to commiserate with the perpetual peace demonstrators there.

In this video, Jun-san responds to my inquiry about what is the Odaimoku, Na-Mu-Myo-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo, which is the Nichiren Buddhist prayer for peace and the essence of the Lotus Sutra. I have that acronym NMMHRGK on my license plate, to inspire my ongoing calmness as I travel the roads. Jun-san's response includes:

- The Odaimoku is the undefinable. One way to understand it is by joining one of her peacewalks, averaging twenty miles daily in all types of weather and terrain, where she drums and chants the Odaimoku throughout. I think Jun-san also once said that once the Odaimoku is defined, it unnecessarily limits the Odaimoku's meaning for people.

- Through peacewalks, people make a heart connection, including with their suffering.

- Humor is one way to alleviate our suffering, as Jun-san responds to my son's response about suffering as if on cue, joking around in his fake schnoz and glasses that he chose on his own to bring that day.

- The answer to alleviating suffering cannot be addressed in a short video.

Early on, I learned from Jun-san that suffering is closely connected to having desires. Of course, by definition humans are unable to give up all desires, particularly such basics as the desire to eat when hungry and drink when thirsty. As I have explored the subject more deeply over the years, I learned abut the importance of being here now, being engaged with life without attaching to anything or anyone, and accepting that suffering will arrive, but to find a harmonious relationship with the suffering.

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